Lady Gaga launches the Born This Way Foundation with McArthur and Harvard

Singer Lady Gaga performs at the iHeartRadio Music Festival Sept. 24, 2011, in Las Vegas, Nev.

/ Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Clear Channel

(CBS/AP) Lady Gaga is partnering with the MacArthur Foundation and Harvard University to launch the Born This Way Foundation, she announced Wednesday.

Pictures: Lady Gaga

The foundation is a nonprofit organization, focusing on youth empowerment and "issues like self-confidence, well being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development."

The Grammy-winning singer's partners include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

The foundation will be directed by the 25-year-old singer and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta.

"Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment," Gaga said in a statement.

This isn't the first time the multiplatinum singer has spoken out for others. She recently said she wanted to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss her concerns over bullying and she visited Maine last year to support the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.

The official launch for the Born This Way Foundation will be next year, and an advisory board will be announced soon.